Among this type of hinge-lid packages for rod-shaped smoking articles, a tongue-lid package as disclosed, for example, in International Publication WO 2004/064550 is well known. This package disclosed in the publication comprises an outer box in which an inner pack of rod-shaped smoking articles is contained. The outer box includes an open end and a tongue lid for opening/closing the open end thereof. The tongue lid is hingedly jointed to the rear edge of the open end, and has a lid for covering the open end and a tongue extending from the lid. Immediately after the tongue-lid package is fabricated, the tongue is superposed upon a part of a front wall of the outer box.
Specifically, the front wall has a substantially U-shaped separation line. The separation line demarcates a to-be-cut-off portion in a part of the front wall. The to-be-cut-off portion partially includes the front edge of the open end. Right after the fabrication of the package, the to-be-cut-off portion of the front wall is bonded to the inner surface of the tongue with adhesive.
Therefore, when the tongue of the tongue lid is pulled up from the front wall of the outer box to open the tongue-lid package for the first time, this separates the to-be-cut-off portion from the front wall along the separation line. As a result, the tongue lid is allowed to turn around the hinge, which makes it possible to open the open end of the outer box.
The separation of the to-be-cut-off portion forms a substantially U-shaped cut area in the front wall and simultaneously forms a separated piece corresponding to the to-be-cut-off portion. In the case of a conventional hinge-lid package, such a cut area corresponds to that of the inner frame of the package, and makes it easy to take a filter cigarette out of the package. The separated piece is kept in a position bonded to the tongue lid, so that it does not become a scrap detached from the outer box.
When the tongue lid is closed after being opened, the tongue of the tongue lid that closes the open end of the outer box is superposed upon the front wall of the outer box. At this time, the tip end of the tongue is inserted into the outer box through a slit formed in the front wall, which maintains the tongue lid in the closed position. The slit is previously formed in the front wall and is covered with the tongue of the tongue lid until the tongue-lid package is first opened.
The U-shaped separation line for demarcating the to-be-cut-off portion is formed of a perforated line, which includes a large number of perforations. These perforations are arranged at regular intervals along the separation line. To be more concrete, the perforations of the separation line are distributed symmetrically with respect to the center line that divides the to-be-cut-off portion into two symmetrical parts.
When the tongue is pulled up from the front wall of the outer box to open the tongue lid for the first time, the to-be-cut-off portion is separated from the front wall of the outer box along the separation line as stated above. There is no fixed position in the separation line to start ripping.
For that reason, it is very difficult to accurately and reliably separate the to-be-cut-off portion from the front wall of the outer box along the separation line. In some cases, there remains a part of the to-be-cut-off portion in the front wall, or a crack appears in the edge of the cut area when the cut area is formed in the front wall.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a hinge-lid package for rod-shaped smoking articles which allows to finely and reliably form a cut area in the front wall of an outer box when a tongue lid is first opened, and which does not disfigure the outer box in an open position, and a blank therefor.